We will be recognizing our church's recent high school, college and grad school graduates during worship. If you or your family member is graduating this school year, please contact the church office by Friday, May 26 (by email or phone) with their name, where they went to school, and their degree/field of study (if applicable).
Shining Stars
Recognize the "Shining Stars" in your life -- those people who have played an important role in your Christian walk -- by purchasing a "star" from WMU. The stars cost $10.00 for each person you wish to honor. "Shining Stars" will be displayed on the bulletin board outside the choir room. All monies collected will go to the Heck-Jones Offering for WMU NC to fund a variety of missions projects.
Please participate by placing your money in the Heck-Jones Offering envelope or in the blue "Special Offerings" envelope in the pew rack. Be sure to write on the envelope the name of the person you are honoring. (Checks should be made out to "First Baptist Church".) The envelope can be placed in the offering plate or dropped by the church office between now and May 31st.
NEWS FLASH! Last Sunday, Sandra James informed the congregation that an anonymous donor will match the contributions up to $1000.00. Let's make it happen!
Hannah James Graduation Celebration
Hannah James is graduating from Swain County High School
Please come and celebrate with her on
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Sylva First Baptist Church
Missions & Fellowship Center
Drop In: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Sponsored by WMU Leadership Team
to acknowledge Hannah’s participation and commitment to her Lord through
mission endeavors and involvement in WMU beginning in Mission Friends,
through Girls in Action, and continuing in Youth Missions, and Women on Mission activities on a local and state involvement.
Do the Hard Thing
“Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” –Philippians 2:12-13
"Do the hard thing," Dr. John Stott said to his assistant before he died in 2011. “Do the hard thing.”
As David Brooks, the acclaimed writer and journalist observes, “Dr. Stott believed that choosing the easy trail, the road most taken, and the path of least resistance can only end in mediocrity—even if it comes with praise.”
I’d like to invite you to do something hard. I’d like for you to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
I know what you’re thinking because I’ve thought it myself. “Why should we work out our salvation when our salvation in Christ Jesus has already been assured?” We work out our salvation with “fear and trembling” because salvation is more than eternal life. Salvation happens when our lives are converted from who we were to who God wants us to become in this life. Because of God’s love and grace in the person of Jesus Christ, how can we not be willing to change—that is, to be redeemed; to be sanctified?
For long stretches of my life, I have resisted the hard thing. I have chosen the path of least resistance and been content to react to life rather than to do the hard work of self-reflection. In short, I have not wanted to ask the hard questions that might nudge me to grow spiritually. I have been hesitant to consider who I am and what I am here for. I’ve been content to acknowledge my gifts while quick to ignore my gifts’ shadow sides.
Let me try and explain.
When I was 24 years old I naively took a difficult summer internship. I was in my ‘middler’ year—seminary-speak for my second of the three-year master’s program—and decided to spend three months in Winston-Salem serving as a chaplain at Wake Forest’s Baptist Hospital. The program was called Clinical Pastoral Education. The experience was two-fold. One half of my summer was spent serving as a pastor to patients. The other half was spent in one-on-one supervision and group work.
Yea. It was the ‘other half’ that tripped me up. The one-on-one supervision and group work was intended to provide me a greater sense of self-awareness. My supervisor asked me difficult questions about myself—my hopes, my fears, my gifts, my liabilities, my sense of call—and my group challenged me personally, giving me a mirror to see myself through their eyes.
This was hard work. In truth, it’s some of the hardest work I’ve ever done. I was defensive in my group work. I was combative with my supervisor. I did not like how self-discovery felt. And yet, I learned how important it is to go through life with my eyes wide open.
As I discovered, we have been shaped by many forces in the world—genetically, from our family of origin, from our earliest experiences with threats and challenges, from the unique cultural context we were born into… you get the idea. The hard work that I experienced that summer as a seminarian revolved around the task of peeling back these layers to see the person God had created, which happens to be the person God loves and the person God has called me to become.
Discovering who you are is difficult work, and it’s not for the faint of heart. And yet, it is precisely what the Apostle Paul is calling the church at Philippi to do when he says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Jesus implores his disciples to open their eyes. Jesus begs the curious to be born again. Jesus tells us that he came to bring us abundant life. We wake up to God’s work in us when we learn about our gifts and our shadows and the power that they have on us.
So, I’d like for you to do the hard thing and join me on a journey of self-discovery. In the church world we call this ‘spiritual growth.’ Make no mistake; it is hard work. But it is deeply rewarding and fulfilling to have an ‘a-ha!’ moment of epiphany when we see how the building blocks of our lives fit together for the good that God has created in us.
The tool that I would like to use to guide our journey is called the Enneagram. Personally, I have come to this tool rather late. In truth, I wish it had been available when I began my own work years ago. I have found the Enneagram to be a gentle and effective way to see God’s truth and to become more gracious with myself and others. Many Christian traditions have been using the Enneagram in retreat settings and pastoral care for years and years.
The Enneagram is an ancient Christian philosophy that was developed by wise, ascetic believers in the fourth century. The Enneagram, which means nine-sided figure, is represented as a circle. Its purpose is to provide a way for us to better understand ourselves and to recognize the root sin that we retreat to when threatened. As Richard Rohr describes it, “[The Enneagram] is concerned with change and making a turnaround, with what the religious traditions call conversion and repentance. It confronts us with compulsions and laws under which we live—usually without being aware of it—and it aims us to go beyond them, to take steps into the domain of freedom.”
The Enneagram is but one of many tools to help us see the un-seeable in ourselves. But, it is the one that has provided me with the most significant ‘breakthrough’ moments in my spiritual life.
So, I would like to invite you to journey with me in learning about ourselves. We’ll use the Enneagram as a tool for self-discovery, and I will provide the resources and the tools we’ll need to do this important work. I’ve purposely placed this invitation at the end of my article because I suspect some readers didn’t make it this far. And that’s okay. Although I believe Paul’s command for us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling is of critical importance for us all, the timing may not be right for everyone now. Thus, I am not making this compulsory. We will not make this process mandatory in worship, or on a Wednesday night. Instead, I’d like to provide the space to invite you to join me on this journey.
And this is how you can: Tell me you want to come along as a fellow sojourner on this path of self-discovery. Call me at the church and let me know you want to know more (828-226-9308). Text me and tell me that you’re in. Send me an email (fbcsylva@gmail.com) and let me know that you want to learn alongside me. I will then notify you about how a small group will emerge this summer to begin this most important work.
Are you still reading? If so, you may be curious enough to take the next step. Do the hard thing. Learn more about the person God has called you to be.
I’m looking forward to beginning that journey with you this summer.
Summer Meals for Kids and Teens
Faith or Fraud, Your Response Matters
“While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You must say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.” -Matthew 28:11-15
Could the resurrection of Jesus Christ have been staged?
Yes, it most certainly could have.
The question of Christ’s resurrection has been debated for centuries. In fact, the most reasonable and historically accurate response to the story of Jesus is to conclude that he was a gifted and charismatic revolutionary who gathered a following because of his authoritative teachings. End of story. Yes, of course, some would believe that he was divine—that he was raised from the dead. But, modern, enlightened minds know that this is a stretch.
Increasingly, Christians are less and less sure that Jesus experienced a bodily resurrection. A poll of Christians in Britain this year revealed that 25% of self-proclaiming believers do not believe in Jesus’s resurrection. Was Jesus simply a brilliant peasant from a backwater community in an occupied land some 21 centuries ago?
I find Chuck Colson’s response to this question to be compelling. Chuck Colson came to know Christ when he was an adult. Before his conversion, Colson was Special Counsel to President Nixon from 1969 until 1973. Pleading guilty for his role in the Watergate scandal, Colson would later serve time in prison. Until his death in 2012, Colson was a leader in prison ministry and a passionate defender of the Good News of Jesus Christ. This is what Colson had to say about the resurrection:
“I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks. You're telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
No, this argument will not win plaudits from the Academy or the most learned among us. And yet, in light of what he read in Matthew about the priests’ instructions to the guards that they must say that, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep,’ Colson’s observation from his own experience sounds persuasive.
This Sunday, we will look anew at arguably the most significant moment of Matthew’s account of Jesus. It’s the moment where Jesus asks his followers who they think that he is.
“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” –Matthew 16:13-15
How we respond to Jesus’s question will ultimately impact the trajectory and content of our lives.
Consider the evidence. Pray about it.
And like the travelers who had not spotted the Christ who was traveling beside them on the way to Emmaus, allow for the fact that Jesus may reveal himself to you at any moment.
Adult Bible Study
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
Join us for Adult Bible Study at 6:00 PM on Wednesdays in May as we learn more about the main world religious traditions.
Shining Stars
Is there a woman who has been instrumental to you in your Christian walk? Perhaps a special woman has been an encourager, teacher, or mentor -- a "shining star" for you.
Honor that person or persons by purchasing a star from WMU for only $10.00 ($10 per person honored). Over the next few weeks the stars will be displayed on the bulletin board outside the choir room with the woman's name and your name on them. The money collected will go to the Heck-Jones Offering for various statewide WMU projects such as Camp Mundo Vista, prison retreat, Christian Women's Job Corps, etc. (Remember last year's Egg Money Thankfulness Project?)
On Mother's Day we will kick off the "Shining Stars" project. In your bulletin you will receive a prayer guide with seven stories of people that Shine like stars in their various communities and ministries. There will also be an offering envelope for you to purchase one or more stars. Just write the name(s) of your special women on the back of the envelope and enclose a check or money and place it in the offering plate or return to the church office. Please make your contribution by May 28th.
Thank you for your generosity and thank you for remembering these special women. What a wonderful and meaningful way to honor someone for their influence in your life!
WMU Leadership Team
Baby Shower for Ivey and DJ Robinson
Please come to a baby shower honoring Ivey and DJ Robinson and their baby boy. The shower will be May 21st from 2:00 – 3:30 PM in the Mission Fellowship Center. They are registered at Amazon.com and asking for diapers and wipes.
Thank You to Tollie's Landscaping!
Thank you to our Building and Grounds Team for working with Tollie's Landscaping to have our playground mulched. Tollie's also donated a new area with special mulch under our tire swing.